Crowdfunding Spotlight: Aizo Luxury Vintage Keyboards

July 27, 2017 / 4:21 AM

By: Zack O'Neill

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It’s not often that we cover crowdfunding campaigns, as there is a pretty big stigma against them in the current state of the gaming industry due to the numerous projects that have ended up not delivering on their promises, but when Aizo contacted us to take a look at their campaign for retro-styled mechanical keyboards, I became intrigued.

To start with, Aizo is already an established hardware manufacturer with plenty of keyboards under their belt, the Retro Classic models are beyond anything they’ve made though. Previously they have released other keyboards inspired by typewriters, which led to attention from mechanical keyboard fans the world over, and the new models being crowdfunded on Indiegogo are based on the older models, but with a large focus on luxury craftwork. Many mechanical gaming keyboards that people may gawk at (myself included) will feature an aircraft-grade brushed aluminum surface with customizable RGB lighting, and while this is very nice (I say as I type on my Corsair K70 RGB), Aizo has opted to go with a classier, and perhaps even more high quality approach. The surface below the keys will be coated in genuine leather with a zinc alloy frame surrounding the outside of the keyboard. Keeping with the theme of the keyboard, the keycaps will be rounded to emulate the look of an antique typewriter, with full per-key backlighting to allow you to use it in any lighting and time of day.

This is of course, a mechanical keyboard, and to not mention the key switches would be a crime to any enthusiast. The keyboards will feature customized Kailh Blue switches. Kailh may not be the most well-known key switch manufacturer, but they use the same system of color coding as Cherry, so Blues will have a clicky, tactile feel to them. Unfortunately, if you’re not a fan of clicky key switches, they don’t have any other options, but you never know where they may go in the future with newer models. Convenience is always a factor as well, so they have opted to make wired and bluetooth models available for anyone who may prefer one over the other.

Finally, Aizo has been very clear on their support for any use case that may be needed, so they have versions of keycaps available for Mac and Windows layouts, as well as English US, English UK, Portuguese, German, and Nordic at launch, with Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and French layouts planned afterwards. Really though, the best part about this campaign is that you don’t really have to worry about the product not being made, because they are already in production and Indiegogo is basically being used as a platform to spread awareness and allow people to pre-order the keyboards at a lower price, with the shipping date being planned for late October for the wired versions, and the wireless versions coming in October.

At the time of writing this, the campaign is currently sitting at just over $74,000 raised; which is far above their goal of $10,000. If you’re a fan of luxury keyboards, I’d definitely start taking a look at this campaign and get in on a pre-order if you can afford the entry price. If you’d rather wait for the full release of the keyboards and see how they hold up to promises, keep a look out for reviews likely coming at the end of next month.

About the author /

Zack started working at VGTribune at 15 years old and has been gaming since the the age of 2. He is currently in college studying film and technology with plans to continue in the game industry. He’s also really good at Counter Strike.